Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

The sun rises every day. What is to love? Lock the sun in a box. Force the sun to overcome adversity in order to rise. Then we will cheer!

Garth Stein

 

Shahina and her tiny band of sisters don't seek recognition for their quiet heroism, they just keep doing what they do, wearing down the obdurate elements of intolerance and oppression, as relentless as water pounding granite.

 

No single act of bombastic heroism, but quietly, obdurately, purposefully, they do this every single day. Most of them are children or teenagers.

 

Last night Roshni met with the parents of the students chosen for the scholarships. Arshi's mother is among them.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Pray that the parents have been persuaded to allow their girls to receive an education and not instead while still children marry them off, in fear for their futures, in such an agonizing, terrifying act of love. Pray for the parents forced to such extreme actions.

 

And speaking as one who knows no God, make a leap with me, and pray anyway, even if you normally don't.

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

 

Love the little dude with the 'stache!

[Flex Mentallo]

 

Love the little dude with the 'stache!

 

'I'm in charge!'

[Flex Mentallo]

Shahina has recently published an article online telling her story...

Here is a link to the site http://insidetheglow.com/shahina-javed

 

Of Light : Shahina Javed

hi, my name is Shahina Javed. I belong to the Muslim family of Rajabazar, which is in Kolkata. My family is made up of my father, mother, three brothers and myself. Shahina means bird; like a bird I also wish to fly and see the world, and learn many things. I miss my childhood days, which were exciting and fun, and I was able to spend a lot of time with my brothers.

 

As I grew up, I came to realize the not only biological but societal difference between a boy and a girl...

I cannot dress as I wish, I have to stay inside the house and speak softly; I cannot question anything for I am a girl. The reputation of my family is believed to be in my hands because I am a girl, and so these rules apply to me. A girl is supposed to listen to her elders without question.

In our locality girls study hard in order to get married to a wealthy man. The whole family expects a lot from this marriage; even the bride-to-be. She is trained by her family to endure the inhumane tortures that will come to her after marriage.

I am my father’s only daughter; he wants me to be the ‘ideal daughter’ who questions nothing, accepting every rule established by society. 

 

His wish remains unfulfilled. I can’t be his ideal daughter; I am already full of doubts and questions.  Why am I studying to get married? Why do only I have to do the household work, and my brothers do nothing? Why can’t I go anywhere I wish like they do? Why does society decide what I can and cannot wear on my body?   

So many questions but no answers. 

Everyone says that our society is what it is, and that a change is not possible. I argue with my family on a daily basis over these issues, but I have a hard time expressing my opinion properly. Maybe, without realizing, I too am attempting to abide to society’s stereotypes of the ‘ideal girl’. I do not believe in it, but it is very hard to escape your daily reality; I do not feel it in my heart yet I help my mother do chores, I wear salwar kameez, and I speak softly.

Thanks to my mother’s help I began pursuing my 12th standard studies which my father reluctantly consented to.

I then became associated with a NGO and the filthy picture of brutality on women unfolded itself gradually before my eyes. I came to know in detail about the miserable situations the women in our society live in. Jealousy is the reason behind violence against women. We are not given equal status to men; we are considered the second sex.  I thus formed Roshni Centre a youth group with young boys and girls in my locality. We raise our voice against the injustice on women, and we have faced many difficulties to be heard and understood.

There are injustices not from our religion but from this subordination of women to men, imposed in the (supposed) name of religion. For example, I once expressed my belief on freedom of choice for both men and women on what to wear; religion imposes many restrictions on the male dress code which they choose to ignore, and nothing happens- so why is the standard different for women? When this interview was published some Moulabis (Muslim religious scholars/priest) came to my home and threatened me, but after a discussion they thankfully realized the significance of my work and supported it.

I would like to share the story of Firdaus, a woman in my neighborhood. She had two children by the time she was thirty, and was beat by her drunk husband every night.  She explained the miserable situation she was going through to her family but nobody listened to her and tried to convince her that she must adapt and accept her husband, for this behavior is seen to be normal from husbands here.  Further, the fact that she had two children meant reconsidering her marriage an impossibility. Nobody listened to her despite repeated calls for help, and for the sake of her family’s reputation she tolerated the brutal tortures silently.

Divorce is a social stigma in our society, so women are not allowed to mention separation, even if they are brutally domestically abused. In contrast, men are allowed to separate from their wives when they please. 

Eventually Firdaus was burnt alive by her husband and in-laws. I don’t know how long she was bristling with pain before death; she had been trained from her childhood that bearing pain is an integral part of a woman’s life. She burnt to keep her family’s head held high; instead of being burnt everyday internally, by the oppression and pain that was her routine, her earthly existence was burnt within one day. The story does not end here, Firdaus's husband established this murder as a suicide case; he is an influential man. No investigation, no queries. The case has been closed forever. He compensated Firdaus's family with two flats for her death and they remained silent.

Everyone remained silent because every day there is a Firdaus being tortured in similar ways, and dies. Every day another Firdaus's coffin is being prepared. 

This brutality and injustice can only be stopped when society changes its views towards women. Therefore I’ve decided to fight for women’s rights in this central Kolkata Rajabazar area. I am not successful every time, and I am sometimes shattered by incidents and setbacks that I come across, yet I revive my energy and strength against the struggle. A struggle against the female stereotype that is thrust upon women by this patriarchal society, not by Allah (Urdu term of god). I know that this is not easy work, and that to make change I require a position of authority, so I decided to become a political actor to bring essential changes to the system. There are quota seats for women living in my area, but this, of course is also conditioned:  most women involved have politically powerful male family members. They are controlled by these men; this patriarchal society would never allow a woman to have control. I am not saying that I can become responsible for the entire nation: my opposition group has four men and ran for election in the general ticket.

Many questions are often raised about my dress attire, my character and the change that I talk about and believe in- I was defeated in an election because of a huge conspiracy, as they thought it would be impossible to control me if I were to win. After this defeat my family and I were harassed and threatened. I did not give up.  

 I will always raise my voice against any type of injustice against women. 

Many cases come to my Roshni Centre every day and I try my best to help solve them. After many challenges, I was able to form a female football team in my community, and some women have become professional drivers. I try to help women in my community to break with conventional ideas, and to respect themselves by providing them with opportunities.  

This, however is not the end. I have started my journey and have to go a long way. I am very optimistic because I believe it might be difficult, yet not impossible, to break with archaic, conventional rules established by the system. I know I am not alone in trying to end this; we are a community of people making an effort towards this goal, and we will reach our destination soon.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Shahina, Shama, Mehzabeen and the older girls are currently on a train heading for Bombay where the soccer team will play in a tournament. I will keep you updated...

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Tales from the Island of Serendip updated thread navigation for the new site (please bookmark)!

Serendipity

Serendipity - Paddyfield School - The Story of Mohan - Sometimes

 

Sting

School bully!

 

El Puente

Muralist Joe Matunis - El Puente de Williamsburg - Return to Paddyfield School - Lucina

 

Bells from the Deep

Werner Herzog - Juliane Koepcke - The lost city of Kitezh - Sadko - St Clemente

Virgil Finlay - Reed Crandall - Graham Ingles - Berni Wrightson - Al Williamson

Flex studies for larger paintings

 

pcalhoun & jimjum

Clark Ashton Smith - Pat's poems - Jimbo's excellent paintings

The Life of Father Hess - Kasauli Art Camp -  Sketches of Bonhooghly - The Death of Mohan Ghosh - Rabindranath Tagore

DavidMerryweather art collection

 

Black Marigolds

In Search of Lost Time - Georges Seurat - Roger Fry - The Trojan Horse - Ananda Coomaraswamy - The Great Stupa at Sanchi - Ajanta caves - Black Marigolds

 

Detective Stories

Johannes Vermeer 1632–1675: A Detective Story - camera obscura - Han Van Meegeren - The Theft of the Mona Lisa - Donato's Captain America and other works - Rainer Maria Rilke - Cornell Woolrich - Cat's space themed paintings - Netsuke - Hart Crane - Cat's 'Creation' - Boba's illustrations - Caravaggio's Nativity - Las Meninas - John Singer Sargent - Flex large painting - Thomas Nashe - Tom O' Bedlam - Georges de La Tour - Flex exhibition - Joseph Wright of Derby - John Martin

 

The Bosnian Conflict

Andrei Tarkovsky - Welcome to Sarajevo - Margaret Moth - Yasna's cat - Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo - Miss Sarajevo - the Serious Road Trip - War Child - the Help album - The Ruin

 

pcalhoun writer and collector

Autobiographical notes - Jade tiki - Ubbo-Sathla by Clark Ashton Smith - Robert Q Sale - Tekkai Sennin - Bakemono - Zuni fetish - Yooshi's ghosts - Kuniyoshi

 

Steven Assael

Paintings - drawings

 

Photos of Nirmal's Village

When Shabana was 11 - Mohammed Yunus - Grameen bank - mosaics of Ravenna, Venice & Florence - Duccio's Maesta - when Tuku was a child - We cry to Thee, O Conqueror of love - Grunewald - Michael Leunig - The Metamorphosis of the Gkmloooms - We shall rise

 

Steven Assael's Bride Paintings

Bride paintings with details - Spirits of the dead keep watch

 

Kolkata

Flex photo essay - Lucina's gold medal

 

The Hero's Journey

The Courts of Chaos - 'The Heroes' by Charles Kingsley - Medusa - Archetypes - Chris Vogler - Galaxy Quest - the Trickster - Prometheus

 

In the Beginning

Altamira - Shanidar - flower burial

 

Interlude

Mir para - Lija and her baby - Lullaby - Her name is Zoa - My relationship with Bonhooghly

 

Before They Pass

Threnody - Jimmy Nelson - The Lost Steps - Witness - Jean Baptiste Debret - Johann Moritz Rugendas - Sebastião Salgado - Serra Pelada

 

Sting and the Rainforest Foundation

Sting in the tail - Raoni’s message - Rolling Stone - World in Action - 30 Most Generous Celebrities list Before they pass away - Yanomami - Christina Haverkamp - The Haximu Massacre - pcalhoun on rip-off charities - Love Story - Darkness in El Dorado - Kenneth Good & Yarima - The Good Project

 

Lost Cities

Mridula & I - Bitter fruit - El Dorado - The Lost City of Z - Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett - Garden Cities of the Xingu - Caral

 

Interlude

I want she don't go back to that hell

 

Heaven's River

Nazca - Maria Reiche “the lady of the desert” - Secrets of the Inca - Wari tomb - the end of all things - Machu Picchu - the Sacred Valley - The condor at Pisac - Ollantaytambo - the "eye of the llama" - The Viracochan image - the pyramid of dawn - Momia Juanita

 

Alternative Histories

Jericho - Çatalhöyük - The Great Mother - Tierra del Fuego - Lilith

 

Flood

Cataclysm - Epic of Gilgamesh - Genesis - mythological diffusion - "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan" by John L. Stephens - Hamlet's Mill - the Sampo - the Phoenicians - the Paraiba Stone - Fusang - Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies - Zheng He - The Bosnian Pyramids - Maya - Xibalba

 

Sunk

Atlantis - Guanahacabibes - Mysterious grid - Bimini Road - Yonaguni - Mu - James Churchward - Out of the Aeons - Lemuria - Kumari Kandam - Ice Age Civilization - Graham Hancock - Lost Continents - Zealandia

 

The Human Condition

E. J. Michael Witzel - Laurasian mythology - humanity's emergence - The Isle of the Dead - What Dreams May Come

 

Was God an Astronaut?

Eric Von Daniken - Chariots of the Gods - The Morning of the Magicians - At the Mountains of Madness - Carl Sagan

 

Steven Assael

Druso

 

U.F.O

Kenneth Arnold - flying saucers - Roswell Incident - Maury Island - "men in black" - Project Sign - Project Blue Book - "foo-fighters" -  Alien abduction - the size of the universe - Multiple universes - Stephen Hawking - Fermi's paradox - the Drake equation - The Silence - N-rays - innate releasing mechanism - Carl Jung - The Roper Report - The abduction - The Dark Side of the Moon - gamma-ray bursts - Ordovician extinction - Invader - Budd Hopkins - the abduction of Linda Cortile - John Mack - Aliens in America

 

The Search

My red book - Carl Jung's Red Book - Charles Steffen - Ernst Haeckel - Jeffrey J. Kripal

 

Lost Horizons

You are as the yellow leaf - The Snow Leopard - Lost Horizon - Shambala - Hollow Earth - the Thule Society - The Way of the White Clouds - António Andrade - Tsaparang - Mount Kailash - Bhagavad Gita - The Upanishads - Navratri

 

Interlude

Update from Lucina

 

Festival 

Durga Puja - Ramlila - the hijras - City of Light

Further update from Lucina - Calcutta Botanical Gardens - Indian ComicCon

Puri beach - Juggernaut - Temple of the Sun - Kajuraho - Reprise - pcalhoun 'Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus'

 

Interlude

Lucina's Conference - Market Day - More Photo of Village Life - Ongoing Correspondence - Ganges 'Beauty Spot' -Eid

 

A Christmas Carol

The sheer exuberance of Bengali village life in a hundred photographs

 

Labyrinths

Pan's Labyrinth - Symbolic Pilgrimages - Chartres - The Mystic Rose - A Pilgrim's Progress - The Labyrinth of Buda Castle

King Minos - 'Da-pu-ri-to-jo Po-ti-ni-ja' - the first European civilization - the palace at Knossos - bull dance

Thera - Tsunami - Akrotiri

Mycenaean ascendancy - Pasiphaë - the Minotaur - Theseus and Ariadne - the integration of the shadow - Betrayal - Right of Passage

 

The Holy Grail

The Da Vinci Code - the Ark of the Covenant - Knights Templar - the grail in literature and television - Perceval, le Conte du Graal - Joseph of Arimathea - King Arthur - the grail in movies - Excalibur

Imitatio Christi - Heresy - King of the World - Crusade - "God will know His own" - Simon de Montfort - The Inquisition - "Not a bird sang for a generation" - the Wasteland

Sin, redemption, pain, and healing - Bayreuth - Hans-Jürgen Syberberg - Healing the Wound - Wings

 

Cloudlets Bright Career

Remembering Mridula - Her death and funeral - Keats' poem - Tagore poem

Mary Elizabeth Frye - A family grieves

Lucina's work on crop studies - Meeting a politician - Lucina's new apartment

Tuku and Mono - 'I have murdered my wife' - On a dead child by Robert Seymour Bridges

 

Tectonic Plates

Kevin Bubriski's photos of Nepal - The Earthquake - Everest's worst disaster - 'It's just a matter of time'

Family without Geography - Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou - My second visit - Family drama - My birthday

My Village - A Neighbour's Wedding

 

Elegy

A trip to the Bay of Bengal - 'The Wanderer' by Eugene Field - Some ruminations on Serendip - Lucina's trip to South Korea - 10th World Bamboo Congress

 

Joseph Farquharson 

A little known Victorian painter - Valerie's letter from V for Vendetta

 

hic sunt dracones

Dinosaurs in comic books - Bones from the Earth - Paelo Art past and present - Mass Extinction Events - The Burgess Shale - Snowball Earth - Dinotopia - On the disappearance of snails - The Coelacanth, Living Fossil - Imaginary 'dinosaurs' - the real reason dinosaurs became extinct (according to Mr Bedrock) - Wonderful Life - Dinosaur Heresies - On dinosaur intelligence - the Anthropocene Era - Anosognosia - Teilhard De Chardin - Julian Jaynes - Wittgenstein - 'Acension' by Pat Calhoun - William Stout

 

Light/Shadow/Phoenix/Mirror

Lucina and Purnabha get married - The golden spice - Who offered this maiden? - Bride Feast - When I first met this skinny kid - 'An Epithalamion' by John Donne - Honeymoon in Darjeeling - The Captain Nirmal Sen Gupta Memorial Institute

 

Out of the Dark

The starfish - 'Fearless', the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandev - Child Trafficking - Anoyara Khatun - The Dowry System - Rajabazaar - Roshni - Let there be Light - 'The Garden of the Prophet' by Kahlil Ghibran - 'Time Enough for Love' by Robert Heinlein - Roshni's new room - Roshni's Web Site is launched - The story of Luke - Independence Day - Progress report - Mission and Vision - http://www.roshniumeedki.org/index.php - Women's Football Team - the Nightingale of India - The Hijab - Women Taxi Drivers - TV station 24hgt - Make Love Not Scars

 

Reporting from Kolkata

Richard Henry Dana - Demonetisation - Wearing a hijab - Arshi and Nikat - Gayatri Mantra

 

The Story so far

A brief retelling of the whole story of my times in India for those who don't want to wade through the last 200 pages!

 

A detailed report on my visit to Roshni, November, 2016

First visit to Roshni's new base - Phil and Rita - Soccer Practice - Children's Day - 'Hijab', a poem - Food Festival - A walk around Rajabazaar - Proposal for a Women's Refuge - Craft fair - Pat Painting - Rajabazaar at night - Nikat and Zeenat - Arshi's family - Sealdah Station - Siliguri to Darjeeling - First sight of Kangchenjunga - Darjeeling - Sittong - Prayer to Durga - Mahishasura - Tribal groups - The Lepcha - Shelpu Bazaar - Namthing Pokari - Buddhist temple - Aahal - KFC - The Luke Holland Memorial Scholarships - Excursion to Nicco Park - The Fisher King

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Flex Mentallo
links updated

[Flex Mentallo]

The football tournament is a pretty bid deal. Here is the Times of India:

 

MUMBAI: The National Inclusion Cup for underprivileged children will be held for the first time in Mumbai at the Andheri Sports Complex from February 13 to 17.

The 14th edition of the competition for men and fifth for women will include 24 men's teams and 16 women's teams from all over India, and for the first time a men's team from Nepal. All teams will have players from underprivileged backgrounds.

This year teams from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Vidharbha, Orissa, Gujarat, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh will participate

 

Following the nationals, eight men's and eight women's players each will be selected to represent India at the 15th Homeless World Cup in Oslo, Norway from August 29 to September 5. The selected players will receive intensive coaching, practice and social skills training for the Homeless World Cup, where 63 nations meet every year for the World Championships.

 

Popular Bollywood actor and avid football fan Siddharth Malhotra has joined the cause and will kick off the tournament. Former Homeless World Cup director Andy Hook of StreetSoccer, Scotland will be the tournament director, Anju Turambekar, Grassroots Director, All India Football Federation (AIFF) will referee and oversee the competition.

 

"It is a pleasure to inaugurate The National Inclusion Cup. I believe that it is of paramount importance for the underprivileged youth to engage in outdoor activities and there should be equal opportunities available to them everywhere. I am pleased to support such a program that empowers our youth and acts as a catalyst to create a better life for them," said Malhotra.

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

Awesome.

[Flex Mentallo]

In fact they came third, winning the third place play off match. Quite incredible. More photos...

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

They all found Mumbai very liberating in contrast to the constraints of daily life in Rajabazaar.

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

Mehjabeen said she spent the entire time in shorts. No hijab!

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Meanwhile, the scholarship program is in preparation. I believe fifteen scholars have been selected. Lucina is translating their bios so I can post them here, but she's been delayed by having to organize a university seminar, as well as being in the last throes of completing her PhD (Purnabha likewise).

 

I have three bios so far - Nikat and Arshi among them, but I want to wait until all fifteen can be posted at one time.

 

Meanwhile, I am in fits because the boards seem to  have adjusted the number of posts per page, and my links above no longer work. So I will have to do them all again. Aaarghh!

[kelholt]

19 minutes ago, Flex Mentallo said:

They all found Mumbai very liberating in contrast to the constraints of daily life in Rajabazaar.

I am sure that 'liberation' felt will be a seed for perseverance, hope, and bravery in all of their futures.

[sacentaur]

Saw an article today that the majority of women in Pakistan report being a victim of sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. 

[Flex Mentallo]

"If you see something wrong, you should correct it with your hand and if you are unable to, then speak out against it and if you cannot do that, then feel that it is wrong in your heart."

The Prophet Muhammad

 

In Yemen, more than a quarter of girls are married before the age of 15. Cases of girls dying during childbirth are not unusual, and recently, one 12-year-old child bride even died from internal bleeding following sexual intercourse. In another case, a 12-year-old girl was married to an 80-year-old man in Saudi Arabia.

 

Child marriage is against Islam as the Qur'an is clear that intellectual maturity is the basis for deciding age of marriage, and not puberty, but this is frequently disregarded.

 

So the girls from Roshni like Mehjabeen go to Mumbai, wear shorts, and paddle in the waters of the Arabian Ocean off Chaupati Beach, and feel momentarily free.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

While Shahina and the soccer team were in Mumbai, Thasina was staying in hospital with her little son, who was waiting for a serious operation. I have had no word since the operation, but I'm assuming he pulled through, or I would've heard.